Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
Approving new housing is one thing. And it is an important one thing. But you also need to sell/lease and finance the project. And that is a lot more challenging in today's environment compared to a few years ago. I think a lot of people look at our cities, see a shortage of housing, and wonder why developers don't just build more of it. But it's not that simple:
“Our industry is now taking a second look at our [calculations] and saying it’s costing more to build, it’s costing more to lend,” he said. “And there is a threshold in regards to what a purchase price or sale price can be. So there’s a bit of a pause in the market right now in regards to starting construction.”
Throughout this last development cycle and, in particular, during the pandemic, development costs increased dramatically. But the revenue side was also increasing -- meaning you could sell and/or lease space for more. That kept development going. You could still successfully underwrite new projects.
But now the cost of debt has increased and the revenue side has expectedly slowed both in terms of pricing and velocity. This dramatically changes the feasibility of new projects, which means the market is going to need time to adjust to this new environment. This, of course, will happen. But in the interim (i.e. right now), it is going to mean a lot less new housing.
This should not come as a surprise.
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Brandon DonnellyLess new housing -- for now
Approving new housing is one thing. And it is an important one thing. But you also need to sell/lease and finance the project. And that is a lot more challenging in today's environment compared to a few years ago. I think a lot of people look at our cities, see a shortage of housing, and wonder why developers don't just build more of it. But it's not that simple:
“Our industry is now taking a second look at our [calculations] and saying it’s costing more to build, it’s costing more to lend,” he said. “And there is a threshold in regards to what a purchase price or sale price can be. So there’s a bit of a pause in the market right now in regards to starting construction.”
Throughout this last development cycle and, in particular, during the pandemic, development costs increased dramatically. But the revenue side was also increasing -- meaning you could sell and/or lease space for more. That kept development going. You could still successfully underwrite new projects.
But now the cost of debt has increased and the revenue side has expectedly slowed both in terms of pricing and velocity. This dramatically changes the feasibility of new projects, which means the market is going to need time to adjust to this new environment. This, of course, will happen. But in the interim (i.e. right now), it is going to mean a lot less new housing.
This should not come as a surprise.
Subscribe to Brandon Donnelly
>4.2K subscribers
Support Brandon Donnelly
Brandon DonnellyLess new housing -- for now
Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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